How Divya Deshmukh, 19, brought down ex-women’s world champion Tan Zhongyi to enter FIDE World Cup final

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Divya Deshmukh Chess World Cup Divya Deshmukh at the FIDE Women's World Cup. (Credit: Anna Shtourman/FIDE)

Like David with a slingshot and a stone, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh just brought down another Goliath at the FIDE Women’s World Cup in Batumi after defeating former women’s world champion Tan Zhongyi on Wednesday. This will be one of the contenders for the most dramatic game of the year, a five-hour battle that lasted 101 moves and saw Tan having an edge at one stage, then making an error to allow Divya to take control of the game, then Divya repaid the favour by throwing away a winning position. And just when a draw appeared to be the likeliest outcome, an error from Tan allowed Divya victory.

The end of the game some emotional moments from both players: as Tan searched desperately for another escape hatch and tried to think of a Hail Mary of a move, Divya, realising that there was no way she was going to lose, covered her eyes and composed herself. Tan herself looked aghast at how she had let the game slip away.

The 19-year-old from Maharashtra thus earns a spot in the FIDE Women’s Candidates tournament, a grandmaster norm and a spot in the final. The other semi-final of the day, between Koneru Humpy and Lei Tingjie ended in a draw after a phase where Humpy had winning chances. Humpy and Lei will be back on the board tomorrow for rapid tiebreaks for a chance to face off against Divya.

🇮🇳 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh advances to the Finals of the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025!

❗️She earns a GM norm and secures her spot at the next Women's Candidates!#FIDEWorldCup @DivyaDeshmukh05 pic.twitter.com/GlTBHTPdxN

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 23, 2025

Divya has been the revelation of the Women’s World Cup in Georgia’s Batumi, taking down promising IM from Serbia Injac Teodora, world no 6 from China Zhu Jiner, veteran Indian grandmaster Dronavalli Harika, and finally a woman who was the women’s world champion in 2018.

Divya’s run at the ongoing FIDE Women’s World Cup is reminiscent of the 2023 FIDE World Cup when an 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa had gone on a giant-killing spree, taking down Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura before losing in the final to Magnus Carlsen.

Only last year, Divya became a World Junior Champion. Since then, she’s been the face of the Indian women’s team that won the gold at the Chess Olympiad at Budapest last year, where she won an individual gold medal herself.